Orange Butter Cookies

Orange Butter Cookies - made December 8, 2012 from The Fearless Baker by Emily Luchetti

As I bake my holiday gifts this year, I like to provide a variety of different cookies with different flavors.  Sometimes I like to do something fancy and sometimes just something simple but good.  This cookie falls into the latter category.  I'd never made it before so I did a test run and tried it out on my parents.  One recipe only made 9 cookies so if you have more than 2-3 orange lovers, you might want to double or triple the recipe.  Because this is a really good cookie.  It's dense, orange-y and chewy.  It doesn't spread very much (I also froze the dough and baked it on a convection setting) and I loved both the taste and the texture. It's like a chewy butter cookie flavored with oranges. The picture below doesn't do it justice as it looks raw but it really isn't, just dense, moist and chewy. (Hey, even my skinny mom ate two).

1 medium navel orange

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg yolk

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose unbleached flour

1.     Zest the rind of the orange, then cut the orange in half and squeeze the juice into a bowl – you’ll need 1 ½ teaspoons of the juice).

2.     In a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until smooth.  Add the orange zest, 1 ½ teaspoons of the juice, the yolk, vanilla and salt and stir until combined.

3.     Reduce the speed to low, add the flour and mix until everything is combined and comes together into a dough.

4.     Turn the dough out onto a well-floured work surface, gather together with your hands, and divide into 2 pieces.  Sprinkle one of the pieces with flour and roll it with your hands into a 6-inch evenly thick log.  Repeat with the second piece of dough.  Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or until firm.  (The dough can be kept in the fridge for 2 days or frozen for 2 months.)

5.     Preheat the oven to 350⁰F.  Line the baking sheets with parchment paper.

6.     Slice the logs into ½”-thick large coins and arrange on the parchment-lined baking sheets about 2 inches apart.

7.     Put 2 racks in the upper and lower thirds of the preheated oven.  Bake until the cookies are golden brown, about 13 minutes.  Rotate pans if necessary to brown evenly.  Let cool completely.